Azure Pipelines added a caching capability a while back and I thought it was high time I enable it.
I was updating a project I maintain and using the example from the docs, I was able to add [caching to my build] (https://github.com/test-kitchen/kitchen-pester/commit/4ed66dd50dc3e40fdf616db205479b1f86dc8376#diff-fec826feae04e51c0d94076385408bdc).
In the short term, I’ve noticed about 2 minutes per job saved by restoring the cache. (It is Ruby on Windows, so the impact may be a bit outsized to your language of choice.)
How does it work?
The caching targets a particular file path and uses a key you specify. The key can be a combination of files or strings that identify the current state of dependencies. In my build, I use the operating system, ruby version, and gemspec file.
Things to be aware of
- Caches expire after 7 days of inactivity. If you have a rarely built project, this may be of minimal benefit.
- If you want to break your cache, you can just tweak the
keyvalue (either add or change something) and it’ll invalidate the old cache.
Give it a try in your build and see how it works! (Read more here)